| Boys Like Girls | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Andover, Massachusetts, United States |
| Genres | Emo,[1] power pop, pop punk, alternative rock[2] |
| Years active | 2005 - present |
| Labels | Sony Music/Columbia, Red Ink |
| Associated acts | Fake ID/The Drive, The Bends, Lancaster, All Time Low, Hey Monday, Highlight Of The Night, Stuperfly, Stereo Skyline, We the Kings, Taylor Swift, Good Charlotte, The Ready Set, VersaEmerge, Hedley, Stereos, Early Morning Blues |
| Website | www.boyslikegirls.com |
| Members | |
| Martin Johnson Paul DiGiovanni John Keefe |
|
| Past members | |
| Bryan Donahue | |
Boys Like Girls is an American rock band from Massachusetts. Formed in 2005, the group gained mainstream recognition when it released its self-titled debut album. Boys Like Girls was the co-headliner with Good Charlotte for the Soundtrack of Your Summer Tour 2008 that toured across the United States.[3] The group's second studio album Love Drunk, was released on September 8, 2009. As of February 2011 the band announced they would be going on an indefinite hiatus. Recently, on November 17th, 2011 at 5:17 AM, Martin Johnson tweeted "...#boyslikegirlsisback", revealing that the band is back together and working on their third studio album.
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The group was formed in Andover, MA[4] in the final months of 2005, when vocalist Martin Johnson, formerly of the Boston act Fake ID/The Drive, wrote a handful of songs he wanted to record. He recruited bassist Bryan Donahue and drummer John Keefe. Keefe brought along lead guitarist Paul DiGiovanni, with whom he had recorded a brief demo, to complete the line-up. Some of the demos' titles were "Free", "If You Could See Me Now", "The Only Way That I Know How To Feel", and others. Some months later Keefe and DiGiovanni learned that they were distant cousins.[5][6] The group later changed their name to Boys Like Girls.
The quartet soon opened a PureVolume account to showcase their music, and uploaded a rough demo of "The Great Escape" and an acoustic rendition of "Thunder". By the end of the year, the group was on the No. 1 spot on the website's Top Unsigned Artists chart[7] and within a few months had completed nationwide tours with Cute Is What We Aim For, Hit the Lights, All Time Low, and Butch Walker.
Eventually, in 2006, the popularity of the band was overheard by booking agent Matt Galle and record producer Matt Squire, who contacted the band about a future collaboration. With their full support, Boys Like Girls embarked on their first nationwide tour with A Thorn for Every Heart, Hit the Lights and Keating in late February 2006. Following the month-long venture, the group immediately entered the recording studio with Squire to record their debut album for Columbia Records/Red Ink.
During their time in the studio Squire introduced the band to another of his alumni, Cute Is What We Aim For, who offered Boys Like Girls an opening slot on their upcoming headlining tour. Once the album was recorded, Boys Like Girls played back-to-back tours, including the Cute Is What We Aim For tour in June, as well as a two week stint with Butch Walker in late July.[5] In between tours the band filmed their first music video for their album's lead single, "Hero/Heroine", directed by Mark Serao and Chris Vaglio of Grey Sky Films.[8]
On August 22, 2006, the eponymous Boys Like Girls was released. As of August 2008, the album has sold over 580,000 copies within the United States.[9] While, as the title might suggest, songs about boys liking girls clearly prevail on the album, Johnson occasionally touched upon themes such as his mother's battle with cancer, leaving home, and promiscuous adolescents. Concerning the latter, he discussed the motivation behind the song "Dance Hall Drug":
| “ | So many kids are growing up too fast. 13 year olds are giving each other hand jobs in the back of the bus, 14 year olds are already drinking and partying, and kids spend more time worried about growing up and being cool than they do actually growing up and being a kid.[10] | ” |
The song "On Top of the World" is about Johnson's late mother.
In 2007, they began with a short headlining run with Self Against City, after which the group joined Cobra Starship supporting a two-month Cartel tour in February. In between releasing their album's second single, "The Great Escape" (reaching No. 9 on the Pop 100), performing on Jimmy Kimmel Live on February 22, 2007, and eventually charting the Billboard 200 for the first time in April 2007, Boys Like Girls played their first international concerts during the Canadian leg of a North American tour with Hellogoodbye and the UK festival Give It A Name 2007.
In mid-2007, the group performed on the annual Vans Warped Tour for the first time and on July 31, 2007 the band reached the No. 1 spot on the MTV show Total Request Live. The following month, on August 20, 2007, Boys Like Girls members Johnson and DiGiovanni played a private show at 105.1 The Buzz radio station. They announced that they would be performing five shows in Japan and said how much Good Charlotte helped their career. In September 2007, Boys Like Girls released a three song acoustic set for AOL's Sessions Under Cover as an EP in the iTunes Store, containing "The Great Escape", "Thunder" and a cover of Frou Frou's "Let Go". On December 4, 2007, the band performed a concert with Good Charlotte, with opening act NLT, for New Orleans radio station B97's "The Night B97 Stole Christmas" at the New Orleans House of Blues, located in the French Quarter.
Boys Like Girls played at the Slam Dunk Festival on the Glamour Kills stage, in Leeds, on Sunday, May 25, 2008. The group shared the stage with bands such as, Cute Is What We Aim For, Kids In Glass Houses, Valencia, We The Kings, You Me At Six and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. The band was also the opening act for Avril Lavigne's 2008 Best Damn Tour throughout the majority of North America.
During the summer of 2008 Boys Like Girls toured with Good Charlotte, The Maine, and Metro Station, for the Soundtrack of Your Summer Tour. The tour kicked off in Southaven, Mississippi with a performance named Red White and Boom hosted by Q107.5 on June 3, 2008. On July 4, 2008 they played in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee at the 2008 Starjam concert, along with Metro Station, Good Charlotte, Ace Young, and Menudo. Two months later, on August 5, 2008, Boys Like Girls and Metro Station performed together at Six Flags St. Louis in Missouri. In between tour dates, they worked alongside Nickelodeon pop singer Miranda Cosgrove on her upcoming debut album, released in 2009.[11]
In 2008, five songs that were believed to be on the band's second album leaked onto the internet. The fan based EP, entitled Heavy Heart, consists of five demo songs that were recorded, but did not make it onto the band's first album. None of the songs would appear on their second record.
Boys Like Girls supported Fall Out Boy on their UK tour in October, along with You Me At Six. A month later the band's debut DVD, Read Between the Lines, was released on November 4, 2008.[12]
In January 2009, Boys Like Girls toured the UK with Metro Station and Every Avenue supporting.
Johnson announced that the band had begun to record their new album on his website on February 10, 2009.[13] It was recorded half in Vancouver and half in New York City with two different producers/production teams, in two different environments, and with two different styles of inspiration. The band embarked upon a 2009 fall tour with Cobra Starship, A Rocket to the Moon, The Maine, and VersaEmerge.[14] The tour, known as 'The Op Tour' began on October 14 with the first show being in Buffalo, New York.
On June 18, Boys like Girls confirmed the title for their second album is Love Drunk[15] and it was officially released on September 8, 2009.[15] On June 24, 2009, the band released their first single, which is the title track of the album. The "Love Drunk" music video features actress and singer Ashley Tisdale. The group released their second single "She's Got a Boyfriend Now" on iTunes in August. The fourth song from Love Drunk is called "Two Is Better Than One," featuring and written with female country singer Taylor Swift. The song is about Johnson's previous relationship with his long time lady friend, Molly. Johnson had previously worked with Swift to write the song "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home".,[16] which is featured in Hannah Montana: The Movie. They have also written a song which has yet to be released, called "Drama Queen." The new album contains eleven tracks including Heart Heart Heartbreak, Love Drunk, She's Got a Boyfriend Now, Two is Better than One, Contagious, Real Thing, Someone Like You, The Shot Heard 'Round the World, The First One, Chemicals Collide, and Go.
The band made history on August 15, 2009 when it was featured alongside The All-American Rejects, Hoobastank, Raygun, Kasabian and Pixie Lott as one of the live acts at Asia's very first MTV World Stage Live concert that was held in Malaysia.
The album is available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon, as well as many major retailers around the country. On iTunes, there is a "Deluxe Version" of the album that contains 3 bonus tracks; "Love Drunk(Acoustic)", "Heart Heart Heartbreak(Acoustic)" and a Mark Hoppus remixed version of "Love Drunk".
Boys Like Girls made a video for their most recent single "Heart Heart Heartbreak". Boys Like Girls was on VH1's Top Twenty Countdown on February 13 to talk about their hit single "Two is Better Than One", which landed a number 8 spot on the countdown. The video was on the countdown for 8 consecutive weeks. When asked about if they were filming a 3-D video or not, Johnson said they had already filmed the music video. Boys Like Girls second album, released in September 2009, was Love Drunk. In its first week, it sold more than 41 ,000 copies, landing it on the No. 8 spot on Billboard 200.
In March 2010, Boys Like Girls supported Hedley along with Stereos and FeFe Dobson on select dates across Canada.
Boys Like Girls co-headlined The Bamboozle Roadshow 2010 between May and June 2010. All Time Low, Third Eye Blind, and LMFAO co-headlined with Boys Like Girls. Along with numerous other supporting bands, including 3OH!3, Good Charlotte, Forever The Sickest Kids, Cartel, and Simple Plan. Martin Johnson and Paul DiGiovanni had a small cameo in Good Charlotte's "Like It's Her Birthday" music video, along with The Maine's John O'Callaghan and Kennedy Brock
Rumours surfaced on the internet a year later after the release of the band's second studio album Love Drunk, stating that the band is currently writing new material for their upcoming third studio album.
On September 1, 2010, the band posted a video on their official YouTube account announcing that they would be heading back to the studio to "do some preps and record" for album number 3.
On December 17, 2010, Johnson confirmed that they have completed writing the songs to be included in the upcoming record and that the band is currently recording demos-to-be-done in the studio with producer Matt Squire, whom the band had worked alongside with on their self-titled album, Boys Like Girls.
In early 2011, rumors started spreading that Boys Like Girls had broken up, with no update from the band, its members or management team. They had no shows scheduled and told fans they were in the studio since September which turned out to be false. Drummer John Keefe was quick to deny these rumors, but along with the rest of the band has issued no statement to say that they are still recording and/or playing together.[17]
As of February 2011, the band's members are working on individual projects. Johnson has been in the studio recording solo material as he prepares to tour in the summer playing his self written songs. He is also currently working with producers John Feldman and Tommy Brown who has previously worked with Black Eyed Peas.[18] On the other hand, bassist Donahue is continuing with his side project Early Morning Blues, along with guitarist Paul DiGiovanni[19] DiGiovanni has also opened his own clothing range named "Black Carbon Custom" which he runs himself.[20]
In June 2011, Johnson debuted several songs as of written of his "solo material" on Kiss FM. Some of the songs played acoustically were revealed to be titled "Back On Track", "Guilty" and "Only You & Love". Johnson also stated that the band would be going on an "indefinite hiatus" as of now, providing sufficient time for [Bryan/Paul] to tour in the later parts of the year as they remain in "Early Morning Blues" and himself to finish up his solo record, which is near finishing touches on it. Johnson also confirmed that he would set to perform and tour under his very own name "Martin Johnson". The first single he would release off the upcoming record was confirmed to be titled "Back On Track", which was written by himself with regards to the band's unofficial hiatus and the future.
In November 2011, Martin tweeted he will post a video update the following day, which was later accompanied by a second tweet "...#boyslikegirlsisback". It was later revealed that the band would be commencing the preparation of the upcoming third studio album in the frontman's place back at Los Angeles.
On November 19, 2011, another video update from the official Boys Like Girls YouTube channel was uploaded, confirming that Boys Like Girls is currently recording a new album. However, the band's bassist Bryan was kicked out of the band. Reasons told were that Bryan had too many plans disrupting the band's progress and was apparently too "engrossed" in his other solo projects like Early Morning Blues and The Tower and the Fool.[21]
In December 2011, the band posted a "studio update" video on their YouTube channel, revealing the trio undergoing recording session in the Sound Factory studio in LA. Also, frontman Martin had uploaded a picture on his Instagram, displaying a hand-written note which what seems like lyrics to a song the band has been recording titled "Be My Everything". Guitarist Paul later confirmed three tracks to be included in the new album titled "Be My Everything", "Back on Track" and "Little One". He also claims that the idea of recording the song "Back on Track" was actually a song written by Martin himself in the midst of the unofficial hiatus of the band two years back.
On December 26, 2010, it was announced that the band's bassist Bryan is releasing an all-new EP titled "Newest Versions" which contains four exclusive tracks, of the group name "Early Morning Blues". The EP features tracks like "War And Wisdom", "Echoes", "Never Leave" and "Chapter One", and is recorded by several artists including Donahue himself, Kevin Sanders, Paul DiGiovanni, Jimmy Welsh, Connor Bissett, Alex Correia and more. The entire EP was later made available for free download on the band's bandcamp site.
On March 17, 2011, the band's lead guitarist, Paul DiGiovanni, appeared on The Gunz Show and announced that he is starting a new clothing line named "Black Carbon Custom". Up to date, there are only four shirts, Black Burn, Bombs, Burning World and Snake, and a hoodie, Shut Up and Color released under the clothing label.[22]
John Keefe, the bands drummer, also began collaborating with Boston-based band in spring of 2011, the Rebels, which has also played alongside Early Morning Blues. They have now changed their name to "Empire Kids".
Stylistically, the band lists its musical influences as a variety of contemporary, emo pop, punk, and alternative rock bands, such as Jimmy Eat World, Blink-182, Secondhand Serenade, Relient K, The Academy Is..., Kelena, and Dashboard Confessional. While these tendencies are clearly audible in guitarwork and drumming, punk rock influences are far less obvious as far as vocal patterns and lyricism are concerned. Given Johnson's characteristic tenor vocal melodies—which are, due to sporadically placed falsettos, at times reminiscent of Tyson Ritter's (of The All-American Rejects fame)—the band's all-around sound is geared to late '90s alternative radio rock, along the lines of Vertical Horizon, Goo Goo Dolls, and Eve 6.[23]
While the online community precipitately crowned Boys Like Girls "2006's Fall Out Boy" (in reference to the pop punk band's commercial success with 2005's From Under the Cork Tree),[24] album sales were less convincing. Despite promotional front page features (such as Spin's "Artist of the Day" or the highly influential Absolutepunk.net's "Featured Band" and "Absolute Exclusive: Album Leak"), Boys Like Girls scanned a mere 1,472 units within its first week of sales, thus failing to chart the Billboard 200.[25] However, continuous touring and promoting helped gaining the record a No. 179 entry into the chart in April 2007. It continued to gain popularity as the single, "The Great Escape", climbed the charts and eventually peaked at No. 55 in August 2007. After nearly falling off the Billboard 200, the re-release of the single "Hero/Heroine" jumped the album back up to No. 61 and was certified Gold shortly after.[26]
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